News & Events

Law360 featured the Firm in an article titled, “Simpson Thacher Helps Free Miss. Man From Life Sentences.” The article highlighted the Firm’s role, working alongside the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the Southern District of Mississippi, in successfully securing the release of our pro bono client, a 51-year-old Black individual, who was erroneously sentenced to life in prison under the federal “three strikes” law and had already spent more than 20 years in prison. The team moved for a sentence reduction under the compassionate release provisions of the First Step Act on the grounds that a sentencing error—based on our client’s prior convictions which involved conduct that took place in a three-week period and should have only counted as one strike, not two as required to trigger the application of the “three strikes” law—and the non-retroactive changes to § 924(c)’s penalties for stacked convictions constituted extraordinary and compelling reasons for a sentence reduction. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi granted our client’s motion on August 9, 2022, reducing his sentence to 24 years and one day, and, because of his previously served time and accrued good time credit, he was released from prison the following day.

In the article, Litigation Partner Joshua Levine noted, how the day after the court’s opinion came out, the team learned that the government had taken the client out of the maximum security facility where he was imprisoned and arranged for his transportation home to his family, saying, “It was both thrilling and startling that after 20 years of incarceration, the wheels of justice could turn so quickly. And it was something we'll never forget.”

Pro Bono Attorney Nihara Choudhri was also quoted and Litigation Associate Conor Mercadante was mentioned in the story surrounding their roles on the Simpson Thacher pro bono team who worked on this case.

To read the full article, please click here (subscription required).